The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

There's a Walter on the outside, and a Walter on the inside. In between is his secret life, a fantastic level of fantasizing. 

The movie starts with him balancing his cheque book on his ball point pen, and the message is clear.

You'd see him as this meek, stuck in office routine, afraid to express himself kind of guy, you also see his wild imagination of what goes on within....and only later realize there's a reason why duty and responsibility took over, and his own passions and spirit of adventure went into cold storage.

Then comes the turning point.... when he's about to lose his job at the Life Magazine, and he needs to find that one mysterious photographer who can save his job (and him). The shift between imagination and  reality is so beautifully done that you're pretty much left guessing for when.

The cinematography is to die for. 

Each of those places he visits, Iceland, Greenland, Afghanisthan, Himalayas....is like pictures from the National Geographic. Would have been wonderful on large screen.

And in process he goes 'inside out'..... embraces life ....finds himself, finds it in him to not just feel but express and live his dreams.....with all his goodness and kindness intact.

It's funny in parts, quirky kinds, more from those curved balls life throws you at times, than outright comedy. 

The poster line - "To see the world. Things dangerous to come to. To see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life."

Sagari, thanks a ton for so strongly recommending :)

Cherai Beach Resorts - Cochin

This was an absolute out of the blue, spur of the moment, one day trip to Cochin.

What started as a seemingly 'preposterous' suggestion, grew into something real and beautiful. What it took was a setting aside of logic and rationality, and instead adopting an a la nike 'just do it' attitude. A shift in mindset.... one that happened over just a ten minute phone call.

And what we had was a day at the Cherai Beach resorts, which was again, a lucky find. Meeting in Cochin decided, the thought was 'why in the city? why not by the beach?' A quick google search and we had our place, an hours drive from Cochin.

Cherai Beach resorts. It has backwaters behind, and beach up front. Breathtakingly lovely.

And in that one day was a whole experience to become a forever trip.......long beach walks, an authentic kerala massage, songs by the sea, wine and banana chips, boiled tapioca snacks...

And what's more, god played ally.

We had this brilliant storm in the evening. A panoramic view of lightening and thunder over water... pouring kerala rain,........that we not just saw but felt.

View from our room, plus a huge balcony overlooking the backwaters

The beach the other side. While evening had tourists on the beach, early morning gave us the beach pretty much to ourselves.

Except for fishermen who were coming in after their rounds

A walk break

Vishakha on a longer walk than I did

The resort  is built in mangroves. Mangroves are trees which grow in tidal, coastal swamps, with tangled roots which grow above ground, forming these dense thickets. The cottages are built within the water pools. And the waters are teeming with fish. Very pretty.

The resort at dusk

This picture of the resort I sneaked in from Google, the one that had me chose Cherai :)

The sea

More mangrove pools within the resort

Evening, as the storm was brewing

Catching the glimmer of the setting sun

A posed for picture :)

On the way to the airport...the green was so pleasing to the eye that it seemed to call for a picture

Cochin airport proudly displays boards saying 'this airport is powered by the sun'. Was exciting to see the panels during takeoff.

The view from our room again, a quintessential gods own country picture :)

A trip that brought out the sheer joy of impulsive and indulgent !

16IFF 2018 , Jaipur International Film Festival Promo

Such a lovely moment.

Dhruva is right now at Jaipur, attending the 16IFF Jaipur Film Fest, and as I write this his film screening is likely on. He sent a message a couple of hours back saying they'd called him on stage and given him a certificate.

Now, within the couple of hours Girija sends me this promo video....and it has his film 'The End's'  poster in it !

Seema's Podcast in The Guardian

Wow Seema ! So proud of you.

Seema,with the Jaipur domestic workers union

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/audio/2018/may/02/fighting-india-gender-violence-seema-nair-lucy-lamble-small-changes-podcast

It was amazing and touching to listen to your journey in this interview capsule. Your choices, your commitment, the thinking and the articulation....the work that's gone in...and the difference you make.  All those little conversations we've  had came together to bring alive the deeper story.

We know it hasn't been an easy journey for you..... staying in those far off places by yourself, handling the conservative communities, exposure to the issues you see first hand, conquering your own fears, also from the husbands of those women, supporting those extreme situations. Each tougher than the other.

All admiration for what it must have taken, and continues to take.

The selfie above tells it's own wonderful story...again, so so proud of you.

Secret Superstar

A simple and sweet film, about a small town girl who dares to dream big.

As story, that's what it is, a fourteen year old girl from a conservative family, uneducated mother in a troubled and abusive marriage, controlling father.....the dream to become a famous singer.....finding an unlikely mentor....predictable end. 

It's yet been down wonderfully. The story, the characterizations, the deep conditioning, the relationships, the breakthroughs........they have an emotional tenor that connects into you.

It's all new faces, except for Aamir Khan who plays a small but pivotal role, and they each did so good, Insiya (Zaira Wasim), her mom (Meher Vij), and the easy to hate dad (Raj Arjun). One of my favourites was Chintan (Tirth Sharma) who was just adorable, as was that first crush with all it's innocence and charm. Songs were nice, again simple nice.

A worthwhile watch.

The Excruciating Opening of Blind Spots

This is a pretty personal story, and I did hesitate on whether it's a bit much to put up here. But then, it's what getting out of comfort zone is, it's what breaching boundary walls is, it's what being transparent is.......all stuff I talk about, I believe in.....so here goes.

I found myself in a rare, sulky mood one recent morning. I knew it was triggered by something Diksha had said or done (or not said or not done). No amount of reasoning with self could shake it off....in fact the more I resisted it, the more it seemed to settle.

One part of me understood, felt it was justified........but then there's times emotions do not listen to reason, and this was one of those.

I was in the grip of a low.

She tried talking... I responded with mumbles and shrugs; she probed... and I graduated to indecipherable words.

Evening she messaged, and I was still abrupt. She's like 'why are you being like this ma, what is wrong? I changed topic.

She says.."so you are choosing to ignore my question"?

I ignore that as well.

Bad behavior on my part.

Now this behavior, roles reversed.......... I would have been livid. (I would have felt snubbed....I'd have been thinking... 'I'm trying to talk, I'm trying to find out, I'm making an effort.....and you're just being stuck up')

And there came my lesson.

She handled it so differently. She dropped asking. She instead pulled two rabbits from the hat. She very gently, over the evening had me into one, and then another activity that we do together...stuff I so love doing with her.

So subtly and beautifully done.

Left me with a huge lesson learnt. That there's spaces I have double standards. And that's been a blind spot for a long long time. If there's one thing I couldn't stand it was 'double standards' and I would have never believed I had them.

A painful seeing......has taken me years to admit....but well....the time had come.

Deech.....for having shown me that mirror. Thanks.

Self awareness is such a dynamic process, and no easy one (A nice tool to understanding blind spots - The Johari Window). An open mind...feedback...insights and it can be a nice journey, albeit adventurous too :)

On May Day

Yet as relevant.....maybe even more so !